News’ unified campaign reflects strength of print

News Corp Australia’s recently launched campaign looks to place a greater emphasis on reader engagement and relationship with content, utilising the publisher’s national stable for the first time. The “We’re for You” campaign will span all 30 of News’ metro and regional publications. The strong brand proposition is also designed to reach out to advertisers,...

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News Corp Australia’s recently launched campaign looks to place a greater emphasis on reader engagement and relationship with content, utilising the publisher’s national stable for the first time.

The “We’re for You” campaign will span all 30 of News’ metro and regional publications. The strong brand proposition is also designed to reach out to advertisers, demonstrating a commitment to the future of print.

The slogan is designed to emotionally connect to readers, subliminally driving the message that “I read, therefore I know; I know therefore I belong”.

News Corp Australiasia executive chairman Michael Miller said the launch of the whole-of-company brand campaign was an opportunity to reignite its story, values and purpose, and to create an emotional connection.

“This is the first time we have had one unified voice across all our metro and regional mastheads, and we are confident the message ‘We’re For You’, will resonate with our readers, our subscribers, our advertising partners and the News Corp team,” he said.

“Across the company, we believe in the quality of our multimedia products and our masthead brands. The investment we’re making in this brand campaign is testament to that, and an investment in our future,” he said.

The new brand campaign is News Corp Australia CMO Tony Phillips’ first for the company.

The campaign was led by chief marketing officer Tony Phillips, utilising research which showed that the emotional drivers to purchase represented 47 per cent of a consumer’s decision to buy a newspaper.

“‘We’re For You’ is about getting people thinking and feeling. We want to deepen engagement and build an emotional connection with our brands, to give readers a true sense of belonging to their community,” Mr Phillips said.

The emotional attachment has been adapted for different sets of readers, with individual outputs created for each state with the same underlying theme.

Mr Phillips says that this demonstrates “the power of a collective message”.

“Our metro, regional and community newspapers have a loyal following in the communities they serve, and we are looking to draw out a sense of collective pride in readers’ suburbs, towns, cities and states around the country. We want to reconnect with people. That is the essence of the ‘We’re For You’ brand campaign.”

A feature has been a letter from the editor to readers run across pages 2 and 3 of each newspaper.

“Each letter from the editor includes statements about what we stand for and what our readers can expect from us. It was a strategic decision to choose the power of print and the written word to convey such an important message,” he said.

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The campaign is designed to not only capture audiences, but appeal to advertisers. Mr Phillips said that the newspapers were a great way for advertisers and agencies to talk to audience through the medium that talks to them.

“The paper sets the narrative for a city. If you are an advertiser and you want to talk to Australia, then you really do need to be talking to us because we are having that conversation on a daily basis to a vast majority of the adult population in this country,” he said.

By demonstrating a significant commitment to their brands, Mr Phillips believes advertisers will be drawn in.

“I think it demonstrates to advertisers and their agencies we have great confidence in or products, we have great confidence in our brands and these brands are being supported.

“Strong brands are attracted to strong brands and from an advertiser’s point of view, we need to demonstrate the strength of our readership and our audience,’ Mr Phillips said.

The campaign does not include a call to action, instead intending “to create the want” through attachment. When asked whether the campaign was simply appealing to readers who were already there, Mr Phillips said: “Our desire is to reduce the churn of subscribers.

“It is about retaining our loyal readers and subscribers, it is about encouraging people who may be a loyal reader but not a subscriber and it’s also about encouraging people who are coming into the market.

“To people who think, ‘no I don’t want to be subscribed anymore’, you remind them why it is a good thing.”

The campaign has continued in print since Monday. The television advertisement, set for launch on Sunday, will also be tailored on a state-by-state basis.